While many Americans cheered, made soon-to-be broken resolutions, raised a glass for a celebratory toast, or sang Auld Lang Syne to ring in 2017, a popular and successful federal mortgage-assistance program essentially ended with little ceremony on New Year’s Eve.

The Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) started in February 2009, at the height of the foreclosure crisis. Since then, the Making Home Affordable-managed program has assisted more than 2 million Americans struggling financially and faced with the very real possibility of losing their homes.

But as HAMP fades away, Keep Your Home California and its Principal Reduction Program will continue to help homeowners in the state faced with financial hardships and hard-to-make mortgage payments through 2020, or until all the funding is used, whichever comes first.

Keep Your Home California, also federally funded, shares the mission of helping homeowners to remain in their homes. There are five unique programs that make up Keep Your Home California, designed to address the different circumstances homeowners face that could lead to foreclosure.

Like HAMP, Keep Your Home California requires homeowners to have suffered a hardship, such as a job loss, cut in pay, reduced hours, divorce, a death in the family or extraordinary medical bills.

Keep Your Home California’s Principal Reduction Program offers different, but comparable benefits for homeowners. The Principal Reduction Program provides as much as $100,000 in assistance to reduce a homeowner’s outstanding principal balance. The lower principal balance is then recast, with no changes to the rate or term of the loan, often resulting in lower monthly mortgage payments. In the fourth quarter of 2016, the median monthly payment was reduced by $258 after Principal Reduction Program assistance was provided.

The Principal Reduction Program can also help homeowners solve for affordability, regardless of their equity position. If a homeowner’s monthly payment becomes unaffordable due to a financial hardship, they can qualify to have their principal balance reduced to a level that will result in an affordable monthly payment based on their income.

Keep Your Home California will continue to offer the Mortgage Reinstatement Assistance Program – allowing homeowners to catch-up on their past-due mortgage payments, up to $54,000. It also offers the Unemployment Mortgage Assistance Program which provides as much as $3,000 per month for up to 18 months – or a maximum of $54,000 – to out-of-work homeowners eligible for jobless benefits from the California Employment Development Department.

Homeowners who planned to apply for HAMP, but failed to make deadline of Dec. 31, 2016, should consider Keep Your Home California’s Principal Reduction Program, or another Keep Your Home California program that can help them in their situation. The state-managed program is completely free, from the first phone call to the mortgage assistance, whether it’s a few thousand dollars or up to the maximum of $100,000.

In addition to a financial hardship, homeowners must meet county-by-county income requirements and their mortgage servicer – the company that collects the monthly payment – must participate in Keep Your Home California. More than 250 servicers, including Bank of America, Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank, are enrolled in the program.

Homeowners interested in learning more or applying for the program should call the counseling center at 888-954-KEEP (5337) or find more information at www.KeepYourHomeCalifornia.org or www.ConservaTuCasaCalifornia.org for Spanish speakers. The counseling center is open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays. Calls can be taken in virtually any language through a free translation service.

Keep Your Home California has a far-reaching effect on the statewide economy beyond just helping homeowners, preserving $2.5 billion worth of economic activity during the first five years of the program. The figure includes preserving jobs, generating tax revenue and protecting property values of assisted and nearby homeowners.

Keep Your Home California was established in 2010 after the state received $2 billion from the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Hardest Hit Fund to help low to moderate income homeowners dealing with a financial hardship to avoid preventable foreclosures.

The state-managed program was fully implemented in early 2011, at a time when many homeowners were dealing with foreclosures and nearly all homeowners were faced with a significant drop in the value of their homes. In addition, more than 2 million Californians were jobless – including hundreds of thousands of homeowners – during the peak of the Great Recession.

Keep Your Home California has provided much-needed help to homeowners faced with considerable uncertainty.

“A strong and vibrant housing market is a critical component of any healthy economy,” said Dr. Von Nessen. “Housing is not only one of the largest sectors of the economy, but individuals who live in stable housing environments also experience many economic and social benefits.”

But everyone, from local governments to small-business owners, have benefited from the program.

For example, helping preserve property values also preserves property tax revenue for local government agencies, from cities and counties to school districts, and the state as well. Helping homeowners catch-up on their past-due mortgage payments or lowering their monthly mortgage payments preserves or increases consumer spending on goods and services – which helps local businesses and generates sales-tax revenue.

“Through the economic ripple effect, Keep Your Home California has not only helped those directly assisted by the program, but also many others, including employees who kept their jobs and small-business owners who maintained their customers,” said Tia Boatman Patterson, Executive Director of the California Housing Finance Agency, which oversees Keep Your Home California. “Neighborhoods, communities and the state have all benefited from the program.”

How much a community has benefited from Keep Your Home California depends on numerous factors, including number of homeowners helped, programs they used, income and even housing density. Each Keep Your Home California program helps homeowners – and the California economy – in very unique ways.

The Unemployment Mortgage Assistance Program had the largest economic impact at $1.16 billion statewide, while the Mortgage Reinstatement Assistance Program had the largest multiplier with $4.35 of economic benefit for every $1 in funding issued.

Keep Your Home California has four first mortgage assistance programs to help homeowners.

Unemployment Mortgage Assistance: Out-of-work homeowners eligible for jobless benefits could receive as much as $3,000 per month for up to 18 months – or a total of $54,000.

Principal Reduction Program: Homeowners could receive a maximum of $100,000 in principal reduction, and many also enjoy a lower monthly mortgage payment.

Mortgage Reinstatement Assistance Program: The program allows homeowners to catch-up on their past-due mortgage payment, up to $54,000. However, homeowners must be able to demonstrate they can make their mortgage payments going forward.

Transition Assistance Program: Homeowners with an approved deed-in-lieu of foreclosure or short sale from their mortgage servicer could receive as much as $5,000 in relocation assistance.

In order to apply for Keep Your Home California, homeowners must have a financial hardship, such as a job loss, cut in pay, divorce, death in the family or extraordinary medical expenses.

In addition to the financial hardship, homeowners must meet county-by-county income requirements and their mortgage servicer – the company that collects the monthly payment – needs to participate in Keep Your Home California. More than 260 servicers, including Bank of America, Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank, participate in the program.

Homeowners interested in learning more or applying for the program should call the counseling center at 888-954-KEEP (5337) or visit www.KeepYourHomeCalifornia.org or www.ConservaTuCasaCalifornia.org for Spanish speakers. The counseling center is open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays. Calls can be taken in virtually any language through a free translation service.

The pilot program is now available to low and moderate income senior homeowners who have proprietary reverse mortgages. Previously, only homeowners with a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) were eligible for program consideration. .

Keep Your Home California also recently streamlined the counseling process, allowing homeowners to receive the mortgage assistance much faster.

The pilot program, which started in early 2015, was established to help homeowners 62 years or older who are at risk of losing their home to foreclosure after getting behind on their reverse mortgage property-related expenses.

“The taxes are so high, and they go up every year. I just didn’t have enough income.” Verna H.

Although homeowners receive income from reverse mortgages, they are still responsible for property-related expenses, including property taxes and homeowners insurance. And fast-rising home prices have a financial effect on senior homeowners with reverse mortgages, especially those who live on fixed incomes.

“The taxes are so high, and they go up every year,” says Verna H., who bought her home in Southern California in 2005 and received a reverse mortgage on the property two years later. “I just didn’t have enough income.”

It’s an all-too common concern for senior homeowners. But Keep Your Home California’s reverse mortgage assistance program definitely helps.

“It saved our lives,” says Joanne H., a homeowner with a reverse mortgage in Central California who has benefited from Keep Your Home California. “The weight it took off … you just don’t know. We were going to lose our home.”

Keep Your Home California’s Reverse Mortgage Assistance Pilot Program has helped Verna, Joanne and many other seniors avoid foreclosure and get back on solid financial ground.

“It was a real lifesaver to me,” says Jeanette M., who moved into her Southern California home in 1999 and received a reverse mortgage several years ago. After her husband passed away, her already tight budget became even more difficult. “It was not a pretty picture. We were way in the hole.”

The details about the program

Special counseling from a HUD approved nonprofit agency allows seniors to assess their financial situation and helps them manage their delinquent property-related expenses. In addition to reinstating qualifying homeowners’ past-due expenses, the Reverse Mortgage Assistance Pilot Program can also provide up to 12 months of additional assistance for future expenses, in order to help get homeowners back on their feet. Senior homeowners must meet county-by-county income limits and be able to document an eligible financial hardship such as — loss of income, a divorce, a death in the family or extraordinary medical expenses – in order to qualify for the free mortgage-assistance program.

Homeowners must also live in the home with the reverse mortgage and demonstrate their ability to make the property expenses going forward.

“People are scared because they don’t think the program can help, but it’s not that way,” says program recipient Jennie M., who lives in Central California. “It’s a positive step that can help you.”

Keep Your Home California has set aside about $10 million for the program, enough to help about 830 seniors. The average senior homeowner will receive about $13,000. As of December 31, 2016, 537 homeowners received $6.7 million in assistance through the program.

Keep Your Home California was established to help homeowners avoid foreclosures brought about by financial hardships. Simply put, a financial hardship is an event beyond the homeowners’ control, which negatively impacts their ability to pay their mortgage.

Keep Your Home California offers multiple programs to address the unique circumstances homeowners face, whether they are in the midst of their financial struggles or they have recovered from a hardship and need help to catch-up to regain their financial footing.

After almost six years of the free foreclosure prevention program, many homeowners are aware of the most common eligible hardships – a job loss, cut in pay, divorce or extraordinary medical expenses.

However, there are other challenges that could be considered a financial hardship and counselors review those requests. We often get questions about what constitutes an eligible financial hardship and quite a few homeowners call with challenges that do not qualify for the state-managed program.

Below is a list of the most common issues that do not qualify as a hardship for Keep Your Home California:

College tuition and/or student loan payments: Higher education is an excellent investment, often paying off with more career opportunities and larger paychecks for those who earn a college degree. But even though a college degree is a huge investment (sometimes more than $100,000), it’s not an acceptable financial hardship for Keep Your Home California.

Consumer debt: Car payments, including leases, and credit-card debt are not eligible hardships for Keep Your Home California. Cars are just about as synonymous with California as beaches, the Golden Gate Bridge and warm weather. Credit cards are a major drag on many pocketbooks, with the average American owing about $15,700, according to Nerdwallet. However, funds provided by Keep Your Home California may not be used to relieve consumer debt.

Take this job … (also known as choosing to quit): The Unemployment Mortgage Assistance Program offers as much as $3,000 per month for up to 18 months – or a total of $54,000 – to homeowners who are out of work. Homeowners must be eligible for jobless benefits from the state Employment Development Department in order to qualify for the program. So, a homeowner’s job loss must have been involuntary.

Second mortgage payment: Several homeowners have a second mortgage for a variety of reasons. Keep Your Home California can only provide assistance to homeowners on their first mortgage and their debt obligation on a second mortgage does not qualify as a financial hardship under program guidelines.

Helping a family member with their finances: Many homeowners have big hearts – something we applaud – but if they choose to help a relative with some money woes, Keep Your Home California cannot classify that decision as a hardship for the mortgage assistance program. If your relative owns a home and their hardship meets the requirements for Keep Your Home California, they should apply for the program directly.

Some other common claims from homeowners that are not acceptable hardships – homeowners who live on a fixed income but are current on their mortgage and there are no other hardships and/or a pet emergency that became a Rottweiler-sized veterinarian bill.

Some of the items listed above are quite noble – and for some homeowners, may be higher priority expenses than their mortgage. However, that is a choice each homeowner must make and whether or not something qualifies as a hardship for Keep Your Home California can be boiled down to answering a simple question: Was it a choice the homeowner made? If the answer is “Yes,” then it is unlikely it will qualify as a hardship.

Now, some homeowners who are dealing with the above issues can get assistance from Keep Your Home California if they have another eligible hardship. It is important to understand that the presence of anything from the list above does not automatically exclude a person from receiving Keep Your Home California assistance.

For example, a homeowner could be making tuition payments for their child who is in college, and had their hours cut at work, leading to less take-home pay. That homeowner could qualify for Keep Your Home California assistance, but the hardship would be the reduction in income, not the expense of college tuition.

It can seem complicated, but counselors are available to assist homeowners and determine if their hardship might qualify them for assistance. If in doubt, call Keep Your Home California.

In addition to a financial hardship, homeowners must meet county-by-county income requirements and their mortgage servicer – the company that collects the monthly payment – must participate in Keep Your Home California. More than 250 servicers, including Bank of America, Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank, are enrolled in the program.

Homeowners interested in learning more or applying for the program should call the counseling center at 888-954-KEEP (5337) or find more information at www.KeepYourHomeCalifornia.org or www.ConservaTuCasaCalifornia.org for Spanish speakers. The counseling center is open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays. Calls can be taken in virtually any language through a free translation service.

All these homeowners have benefited from Keep Your Home California’s Principal Reduction Program, which offers as much as $100,000 in principal reduction – all for free. In fact, almost 9,500 homeowners have been approved for the Principal Reduction Program.

Charles and Kathleen

The popular program assists homeowners with unaffordable and/or underwater mortgages in California. About one of every eight homeowners with a mortgage in California has a negative equity mortgage.

Almost half of the homeowners approved for Keep Your Home California in second-quarter 2016 were enrolled in the Principal Reduction Program.

The program lowers principal – the amount owed on the mortgage – and also often reduces the monthly payment. In fact, the average homeowner approved for the Principal Reduction Program enjoyed a monthly mortgage payment reduction of $258, from $1,400 to $1,142.

That means fewer dollars owed and more money in your pocket. It’s a winning combination for everyone, from homeowners to local businesses.

San Francisco homeowners Charles and Kathleen save about $300 every month, thanks to Keep Your Home California’s Principal Reduction Program. “It’s like a weight taken off our shoulders,” Charles says.

Elaine

The lower monthly payments have definitely helped Elaine of Southern California, who was forced into an earlier-than-planned retirement and receives significantly less income, mostly from Social Security. Her principal was reduced by $81,500, which lowered her monthly mortgage by almost $400.

“It’s really made a big difference,” Elaine says

Bettie and Gordon, also of Southern California, save a few hundred dollars every month from the program.

“That was probably one of the happiest days of our lives,” Bettie says of when she and her husband were approved for the Principal Reduction Program. “The big thing is we are still in our home, and we can stay here.”

Bettie

And that’s the goal behind the Principal Reduction Program. A vast majority of homeowners who have received principal reduction assistance from Keep Your Home California remain in their home two years later.

Keep Your Home California has three forms of principal reduction. Each plan helps homeowners in a unique way.

Principal Reduction-Affordability – Provides principal reduction assistance to eligible homeowners with an unaffordable mortgage payment, defined as a debt-to-income ratio greater than 38% of the gross household income. The homeowner does not need to have an underwater – or negative equity – mortgage. The average homeowner has their principal balance reduced by $64,478, and the monthly payment by $296.

Principal Reduction-Recast – Allows homeowners to obtain an affordable payment and lower total debt associated with their negative equity mortgage without using a servicer-provided loan modification. The rate and terms of the loan do not change, the loan is simply re-amortized based on the new, lower outstanding principal balance, which leads to lower monthly payments. The average homeowner has their principal balance reduced by $56,306, and the monthly payment by $217.

Modification – In conjunction with a servicer-provided loan modification, program funds are used to lower the homeowner’s outstanding principal balance. The modification changes the terms of the mortgage to ensure the homeowner will have affordable monthly payments going forward. The average homeowner has their principal balance reduced by $37,193, and the monthly payment by $540.

Now, homeowners must have endured a financial hardship, such as a job loss, cut in pay, divorce, death in the family, extraordinary medical bills, or other financial challenges in order to qualify for the Principal Reduction Program. Keep Your Home California representatives will help determine whether the hardship qualifies for the program.

Homeowners must meet county-by-county income requirements and their mortgage servicer – the company that collects the monthly payment – must participate in Keep Your Home California. Almost 190 servicers are enrolled in the Principal Reduction Program, including Bank of America, Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank.

Homeowners interested in learning more or applying for the program should call the counseling center at 888-954-KEEP (5337) or find more information at www.KeepYourHomeCalifornia.org or www.ConservaTuCasaCalifornia.org for Spanish speakers. The counseling center is open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays. Calls can be taken in virtually any language through a free translation service.

Uncle Sam – also known as the U.S. Treasury Department – has issued $2.36 billion to Keep Your Home California during the past five years, with the funds reserved to help homeowners who are struggling with their mortgages due to a financial hardship.

The goal has always been to help prevent avoidable foreclosures and ensure that homeowners who receive assistance are repositioned in a way that ensures they will be able to make their payments going forward. The ideal outcome is to stabilize communities for the long-term, not simply kick the can down the road.

However, an equally important goal for Keep Your Home California is to be good stewards of the federal funds – your tax dollars.

It’s a commitment that program officials take very seriously. Keep Your Home California established four programs in 2011, allowing low to moderate income homeowners to catch-up on past-due amounts, have their monthly payments made for them while they are out of work, or even reduce their outstanding balance and cut their mortgage payments – all for free.

The state-managed program has been a huge success, with more than $1.5 billion already provided or scheduled to 65,000-plus California homeowners. The program has enjoyed record quarters for funding issued during the past year.

Many homeowners still need Keep Your Home California. And, Keep Your Home California is here to help.

At the same time, the federally funded program must ensure that homeowners meet eligibility requirements, from county-by-county income limits to an identifiable financial hardship, such as a job loss, cut in pay, divorce, death or extraordinary medical bills.

In addition, Keep Your Home California must consider factors to evaluate the affordability of the home, so that there are reasonable assurances the homeowners will remain in their home after the assistance is provided. If a homeowner is behind and cannot afford their monthly payment, it does not make sense to use program funds to catch them up, only to have them fall behind again.

Keep Your Home California eligibility criteria helps to make sure homeowners are left in a sustainable situation, as evidenced by the fact that 93 percent of homeowners who receive assistance are still in their homes two years later.

The standards that have been set to identify qualified homeowners are not meant to be a barrier to accessing the assistance. Rather, they were established to make sure that program goals are met.

Keep Your Home Californiamust safeguard taxpayer dollars – and the program must be an effective and appropriate use of these federal funds. Some may feel it’s a hassle, but homeowners applying for the program are required to provide documents, like income information and tax returns, in order to show they have suffered a financial hardship and need the assistance.

Applicants cannot be involved in an active bankruptcy and must live in their home. Keep Your Home California was not established to help with income properties or second homes. And, of course, homeowner credit information and mortgage details are collected and considered.

Then, Keep Your Home California and the homeowner’s mortgage servicer – the company that collects the monthly payments – review the collected information to see if the applicant qualifies for assistance.

It’s much like applying for a mortgage, as it should be, since homeowners approved for the program could receive as much as $100,000 in free mortgage assistance – either from one lump-sum under the Principal Reduction Program or a combination of programs.

Homeowners do not directly receive the dollars; the funds are delivered from Keep Your Home California to the homeowner’s mortgage servicer so the money can be applied to the homeowner’s mortgage as intended. It’s just one more way to ensure funds are used appropriately.

Make no mistake; Keep Your Home California officials want to help as many homeowners as possible, as long as they meet the program requirements.

In fact, Keep Your Home California has expanded the program on several occasions – for example, increasing mortgage assistance from 12 to 18 months for out-of-work homeowners under the Unemployment Mortgage Assistance program – to allow more homeowners to benefit from the program. Keep Your Home California also added the criterion of negative equity equal to or in excess of 120% of the property value as a qualifying financial hardship for the Principal Reduction Program.

Keep Your Home California cannot add, change or modify a program without an extensive review and approval by the U.S. Treasury Department. It’s all about effectiveness, accountability and responsibility.

Finally, every dollar allocated to Keep Your Home California must be used for the program. Funding cannot be used for other programs or the state budget – only Keep Your Home California.

Not everyone who contacts Keep Your Home California will qualify for assistance – and that is not necessarily a bad thing. Eligibility criteria are Keep Your Home California’s first line of defense against people trying to defraud the program. The mission is to help homeowners who are at risk of foreclosure due to no fault of their own and whose options are limited. And, the responsibility to utilize the federal funding to achieve this mission is of utmost importance.

Now that you know how and why Keep Your Home California ensures the funding is being used wisely, learn how the free program can put the money to work for you.

Homeowners interested in learning more or applying for the program should call the counseling center at 888-954-5337 or find more information at www.KeepYourHomeCalifornia.org or at www.ConservaTuCasaCalifornia.org for Spanish speakers. The counseling center is open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays. Calls can be taken in virtually any language through a free translation service.

Paperwork is part of the application process with Keep Your Home California.

Nothing really new to you here — many of the documents that were necessary when you applied for a mortgage are also required for Keep Your Home California. But our application process may make homeowners eligible for much-needed financial assistance to ease their mortgage problems.

Instead of spending thousands of dollars when obtaining a mortgage –– for closing costs, down payment and escrowed funds — the Keep Your Home California application process is free.

On top of that, the federally funded, state-managed program is actually helping you save your home – along with your commitment, your effort and the money you have invested in your home. Plus, you don’t have to move and, for some people, that is priceless.

Certain documents are needed to determine a homeowner’s eligibility for Keep Your Home California assistance. Documentation of eligibility is required before assistance may be provided, in order to safeguard this taxpayer-funded program.

The following are the most frequently required documents needed to apply for Keep Your Home California:

Pay stubs

EDD pay stub, if applying for the Unemployment Mortgage Assistance Program

A copy of a short sale or deed-in-lieu of foreclosure agreement (if applying for the Transition Assistance Program)

Now, each homeowner – and their situation – is different, so additional documents may be needed to verify eligibility for assistance.

It is almost impossible to overstate the importance of documentation in the Keep Your Home California application process. The reasons why homeowners need the mortgage assistance in the first place are revealed through the documents they provide.

Also, documents are vital to a homeowner’s eligibility determination. In fact, an application for assistance is not complete until all required documents have been provided. The documents are the key to unlocking the door to assistance from Keep Your Home California, which must meet federal requirements to safeguard this taxpayer-funded program.

There are three unique Keep Your Home California programs designed to help homeowners remain in their homes:

The Principal Reduction Program offers as much as $100,000 to reduce the homeowner’s outstanding first mortgage balance and often lowers their monthly mortgage payment. The program helps homeowners dealing with unaffordable and/or underwater mortgages, where the amount owed exceeds the current value of the home.

As mentioned above, homeowners must have endured or still be suffering from a financial hardship, such as a job loss, cut in pay, divorce, death in the family, extraordinary medical bills or other financial challenges in order to qualify. Keep Your Home California representatives will help determine whether your hardship qualifies for the program.

Homeowners interested in learning more or applying for the program should call the counseling center at 888-954-5337 or find more information at www.KeepYourHomeCalifornia.org or at www.ConservaTuCasaCalifornia.org for Spanish speakers. The counseling center is open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays. Calls can be taken in virtually any language through a free translation service.

Keep Your Home California

Keep Your Home California is a $2 billion federal program run by the state, focused on helping low and moderate income families avoid foreclosure, stay in their homes, and maintain an affordable mortgage payment for long-term homeownership.